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Local journalist Deanne Stillman writes in today's New York Observer about the Robert Blake and Phil Spector murder cases, which she has been covering since the start.
As I’ve become more familiar with each story, I’ve realized that Mr. Blake and Mr. Spector are similar characters, reverse Gatsbys whose east-to-west family journeys spelled their doom. To paraphrase Gladys Knight and the Pips, L.A. proved too much for the men.This translates into high, weird and welcome drama involving A- to E-level Hollywood players, with possibly even Kato Kaelin sitting courtside (he evidently accompanied Mr. Spector to a recording session a while ago).
The lead item in the Observer's "The Transom" gossip column covers the Arianna Huffington book party held last week at Tom Freston's New York townhouse. The guests included Harvey Weinstein, Mort Zuckerman, Steven Rattner, Tina Brown, Barbara Waters and Al Franken. Huffington joked about her Republican days:
"That was a very bad idea," she said. "But I think there’s a statute of limitations because, you know, when I was a Republican, Dennis Miller was still a liberal—he’s still funny. And Michael Jackson was still black. You know, it’s a long time ago, but I did make a fool of myself. Hi! Welcome! This is [former Howard Dean consultant] Joe Trippi—you can ask him."